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2018-08-30
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Faculty of Natural Resources and

Agricultural Sciences

Guide for conducting an independent project at the NJ-faculty at SLU

This is a practical guide for independent projects (mainly Bachelor or Master thesis project) at the NJ-faculty at
SLU. It is based on relevant syllabuses and internal governing documents for first- and second-cycle education
(Part 4 contains guidelines for independent projects, at present available only in Swedish).
This guide applies to projects in the main subject areas biology, environmental science, soil science, food sci-
ence, agricultural science, chemistry and technology.
All forms and other information are collected on the following web pages: https://internt.slu.se/nj-exjobb (Swe-
dish) and https://internt.slu.se/nj-msc-thesis (English).
Time Student Supervisor Examiner
Before the The student should start look- The supervisor discusses the The intended examiner
start of the ing for a research topic and student’s ideas with the student. checks whether the sug-
course supervisor well in advance of gested project fits the
The supervisor assesses whether
the start of the course. Con- syllabus for the course,
the suggested project is feasible
tact SLU departments and/or including its main sub-
and compatible with the relevant
companies, authorities etc. to ject area. Modifications
course syllabus, including the
find a suitable project. Most to the objectives may be
extent of work and intended
SLU departments present suggested to warrant the
main subject area. Doubtful
available projects on their latter.
cases should be discussed with
web pages. To find a supervi-
the intended examiner.
sor, or to get advice on devel-
oping an individual project, If needed, the supervisor sug-
contact former teachers within gests contacts at companies/or-
the intended subject area. The ganisations/departments/etc.
main supervisor must come The supervisor should also iden-
from SLU. It is the student’s tify co-supervisors, if appropri-
responsibility to find a main ate.
supervisor from SLU, even if
the project will be conducted
in cooperation with an exter-
nal part.
Apply for the course at
www.universityadmissions.se
before Apr 15 for the autumn
semester, and before Oct 15
for the spring semester.
Examiner The student should not be in- The supervisor suggests, and the The examiner reads the
volved in the process of as- supervising department assigns grading criteria for the
signing an examiner for the an examiner. The examiner course (see web address
independent project! must belong to one of the coop- above).
erating departments for the the-
sis course, and must be qualified
as an examiner according to
SLU regulations.
Registration Well in advance to the start of the course (preferably more than two The examining depart-
form weeks), the student and supervisor together complete the registra- ment uses the registra-
tion form (see web address above) and give it to the director of tion form to register the
studies at the department where the examiner is affiliated. student in LADOK, and
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fill in supervisor and ex-

aminer in the Result an-
notations in LADOK.
After the registration, a
copy of the registration
form should be sent to
the staff member having
administrative responsi-
bility for independent
projects in the main sub-
ject area of the thesis,
for handling of econ-
omy.
Start of the Preferably, the project should start on the first day of the course. However, it may start at any
course time of the year that fits the work plan and all people involved in the project, given that the stu-
dent is admitted to the course. The 20 weeks (or 40) start counting when the student starts the
project.
It is not allowed to start a project without being admitted and registered.
Work plan No later than the first week of the project, the student and supervi- The examiner reviews
sor(s) should together design a work plan, including a time plan, the work plan, including
for the project, using the form found on the web address above. the time plan, to ensure
that both are adequate
Final admission to the course is conditional on the student, super-
and agree with the sylla-
visor and examiner reaching agreement about the work plan for
bus and the extent of the
the project.
course (15, 30, 45 or 60
The signed plan should be given to the director of studies at the credits).
examining department. The work plan should be revised during
the course of the project if needed (see below).
Supervisor and/or examiner go through the grading criteria with the student. Student, supervisor
and examiner inform themselves about course syllabus, this guide document, and other relevant
information about the course.
Student and supervisor discuss the student’s need of developed
competence and knowledge to pursue the planned project, and note
in the work plan how to accomplish this.
During the The student undertakes the The supervisor ensures availa-
course project according to the work bility for supervision, and com-
plan. The student and supervi- mits to answering questions as
sor should maintain frequent soon as possible.
contact during the whole pro-
The supervisor should contact
ject.
the student if the student main-
Main responsibility for main- tains less frequent than agreed
taining contact lies with the upon.
student
Delays If the project is delayed due to circumstances beyond the control of the student, the time sched-
ule in the work plan should be revised. This may include illness, broken equipment, etc.
Generic The student is strongly ad- The supervisor should familiar-
skills vised to take part in the op- ise with the content of these op-
tional lectures in generic tional lectures in generic skills
skills such as information to avoid duplication and to
search and scientific writing. know what to expect from the
student.
Note that for students taking
the “magister” course For students taking the course
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(EX0732), these lectures are EX0732, checks that the student

compulsory. have passed the lectures in ge-
neric skills.
Written re- The student writes a thesis, The supervisor reviews drafts
port under guidance from the su- and gives feedback to the stu-
pervisor. dent, within the agreed time
frame for response.
Early, and continuously
throughout the project, the
student hands in drafts of
written parts to the supervisor
for comments. The student
uses the comments to improve
the text.
In most cases the thesis
should be formatted according
to the template provided by
the SLU library.
The report should include ½
page abstract, and for MSc
projects also a 1-page popu-
lar-scientific summary.
Reports written in Swedish
should contain both a Swe-
dish and an English abstract.
Oral presen- Student, supervisor, examiner(s)* and the student opponent agree on a time for oral presenta-
tation tion. The presentation may be given whenever it suits all people involved, or on a day particu-
larly scheduled for oral presentations, by the supervising department (if applicable; ask the di-
rector of studies).
*) In theory, the examiners of both the presenting student and the opponent should be present. However,
for practical reasons this evaluation could be done by the same person who may be one of the examiners
or a deputy, but neither of the supervisors.
The student prepares the oral The supervisor books a room for
presentation. Extent and time the presentations (if not pre-
of the presentation should be sented on one of the pre-organ-
discussed with the supervisor. ised days), and announces the
presentation to a target audi-
ence.
The student gives an oral The supervisor of the presenting The presenting student’s
presentation. student chairs the session. For examiner attends, and
procedures, see the guiding doc- evaluates the oral
ument on the web page men- presentation; this may be
tioned in the header. done by a deputy exam-
iner (see above).
The examiner should
give feedback on the
presentation, and on
how the student an-
swered questions and
criticism.
Opposition The student should act as op- The examiner (or a dep-
ponent on a fellow student’s uty, but not the supervi-
thesis and oral presentation, sor) is present to grade
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and likewise have a student and give feedback on

opponent for his/her own the- how the opposition was
sis and oral presentation (see performed.
guide for oral presentation on
the web page mentioned in
the header). The opposition is
(1) given orally immediately
after the presentation and (2)
provided as a written sum-
mary of about 1 page.
It is the responsibility of the
student to find an opponent,
and to identify a presentation,
where to act as opponent. Op-
position is allowed across
subject areas (courses/sylla-
buses) and departments. The
opposition should preferably
be done on a fellow student at
the same level. If this is not
possible cross-level opposi-
tions are accepted.
If students fail to arrange the
opposition, the director of
studies at the supervising de-
partment can give advice.
Some departments coordinate
reciprocal opposition cen-
trally. If so, the students will
be informed about this at the
start of the course.

Completion The student revises the draft

text according to comments
from the supervisor and feed-
back received during the oral
presentation.
The supervisor checks the text The examiner has the
for plagiarism using Urkund, formal responsibility to
and delivers the result to the ex- check for plagiarism. If
aminer. found, report to director
of studies for further
measures (see Riktlinjer
vid misstanke om fusk
och andra disciplinära
frågor inom utbildning
vid SLU).

When student and supervisor agree on the final version of the thesis,
it should be given to the examiner for grading.
The student is asked to fill in
the on-line course evaluation
for the independent project
course, in the Evald system.
All are encouraged to take part in the “Thesis day”, organised at the end of the spring semester.
LADOK in-
put
Publication
in EPSILON
If not passed The student is responsible for
revising the text according to
comments by supervisor, ex-
aminer and opponent.
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The examiner grades the
thesis, using the version
of the grading criteria
current at the time the
student was admitted to
the course.
The examiner checks
with the supervisor
about the contribution of
the student to the work,
including the student’s
level of engagement.
The supervisor and examiner complete the form for reporting
a completed BSc/MSc thesis, and pass it on to the director of
studies at the department of the examiner.
Note that “Date when student had fulfilled all requirements
to pass” is the date when the student had passed all parts of
the course, not the date when the examiner finished the ex-
amination!
The examining depart-
ment enters the grade in
LADOK, according to
SLU regulations.
The supervisor is responsible for
ensuring that the final version of
a passed thesis is published in
EPSILON. This should be han-
dled by the responsible person
at the department, not by the
student.
The supervisor and examiner repeat applicable parts of the
points above.